Daddy's Stories

One of the things I'm trying to accomplish while in Nashville is to write down some of my dad's stories as he tells them.  At one point he had wanted to write a book about his experiences while a missionary in Nigeria.  His book was going to be titled "They still eat white people there." 

We're not making much progress. 

The other day, as he was flipping through the bazillion TV channels, he saw pictures of the Sahara Desert and he started talking.  This is the story he told me.

I flew from Amsterdam to Lagos, and flew across the Sahara.  I took all kinds of pictures.  I was amazed at the Sahara from above.  I got to Lagos and made it through customs.  We loaded Henry's trunk with the medicine that I was carrying, and started driving to the next terminal. 

We made it to the first roadblock.  He looked like he was a police officer, but with a sub-machine gun.  And you knew it was loaded.  He pointed to me and said, “What do you have in that?” pointing to me and the camera around my neck. 

“It’s my camera.” 

“What do you do with it?” 

“I take pictures with it.” 

“Let me see.” 

This is when I still worked with film.  I pulled out a part of the film strip and tore it off and said “See here?  You can’t see anything on them, and you’ve ruined those pictures.” 

He let me go. 

Right into the next roadblock.

 

 

I will try to post more stories as he tells them to me.  Until then.

Hugs,

Melinda

How is your dad doing?

So, I'm getting a lot of people asking the same question.  "How is your dad doing?"  You want to hear something crazy?  That's a loaded question and actually very hard to answer.

The first question I have is "what do you mean?"  Do you mean today?  How is he doing today?  Because he has good days and bad days.  He'll have a day where he is really strong and can walk pretty far, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain, and then the next day, he is wiped out and sits and sleeps all day.

If you want to go on a week by week basis, then this week seems to be better than last week.  When I left for Nashville, I was afraid I was headed to a funeral.  When he started running a fever last week, I wasn't sure that was very far in the future.  This week, I don't know.  He seems to be okay.

But if you go on a month to month basis, things start changing.  He is most assuredly a lot weaker than when I saw him in the spring.

How about a year to year comparison?  The man sitting in the recliner is not the dad I remember from my childhood. 

Don't misunderstand me.  He's still my daddy, and I still love him, but he is much changed. 

And it hurts.  It hurts to see him so sick and weak and unable to do some of the very basic things he needs to do.  In some ways, it's almost like taking care of a young child.  Only he's not my child.  He's my dad.

But I am here.  I will help however I can.  After all, he is my father, and he raised me.  It's the least I can do.

But how is my dad doing?  I don't know how to answer that anymore.

Hugs,
Melinda

Diabetes is a killer

Diabetes is a killer.  Quite the catchy title, isn't it.  But it is.  It's a killer.

My brother in law had Type 1 Diabetes.  According to my husband, he was drinking too much soda, and collapsed at football practice.  I might have the facts a bit incorrect, but the fact remains that he had Type 1 Diabetes.  He didn't take care of himself.  He didn't test his blood glucose levels often enough.  He drank lots of soda and ate M&Ms all the time.  He had kidney failure and did peritoneal dialysis.  He had heart problems.  He died in January of 2012.

My dad has Type 2 Diabetes.  He has kidney failure and received a kidney transplant in 2000.  He didn't take care of himself.  Ate out a lot, drank a lot of soda.  He didn't want to have a "cardboard" diet.  He has had at least 8 strokes.  He has been in rehab at least 3 times this year.  He has been in the hospital even more times.  He has had pneumonia caused by aspirations several times, this year which causes him to cough and cough to the point that his lips turn blue.  He is rapidly losing all of his strength. 

So why am I writing this?  Because I need to write out what I have learned.  You can not ignore your blood sugar levels.  You can not ignore your health.  You can eat what you want without consequences.  You can not ignore the doctors, the nurses, the dieticians, everyone trying to help you live a better and longer life. 

I am in Nashville helping my dad out for a while.  Which means I do things for my dad that he did for me when I was a kid.  Modesty has gone out the window.  I fix his dinner, I help him with his medicines, his insulin, his blood sugar monitoring.  I'm helping my sister breath a little.

Diabetes is an individual diagnosis, but it also affects the WHOLE family. 

If you are diagnosed, please, do your family a favor, and take care of yourself.

Hugs,
Melinda

Flying

On October 30, 2014, I flew from Kansas City to Nashville to be with my dad and my little sister.  This post was written on the flights.

It's been 15 years since I've flown anywhere, and yet this morning, I find myself on a plane to Nashville. I had hoped, no prayed for no turbulence. I am not certain if its normal or just a bit bumpy.

But my oh my. Kansas City looks like Christmas up here.

The lady in the seat next to me is asleep. Everyone has their light off. What else is there to do on a 6:30 am flight but sleep.

I'll see you in Chicago.

And yes, Little Bit, I did get to see the clouds up close.

Okay, after sitting in the first plane for about 35 minutes, I finally got off and raced through O'Hare Airport. Did you know that place is huge? But I have made it to the gate with about 5 minutes to spare.

On to Nashville!

Running through O'Hare made me hot and thirsty. I hope the flight attendant brings water soon.

So I remember why I don't normally fly. It feels an awful lot like riding in a big bus. Only I can't look out the front window. And sometimes the road gets really bumpy. And there's not enough room.

The really interesting thing is the descent. Little Bit learned about gravity on the space station this week. "You're really falling like the space station so it feels like you're floating." The descent feels like that. Floating. 

The difference between economy and first class is negotiable. From here it looks like bigger seats, and maybe more attention but otherwise, not worth the money.

Flying has many benefits: mainly that it gets you there faster.  But I don't think I'll be flying again anytime soon.  I like my feet on the ground.  But mainly, because I miss these guys.

Hugs,
Melinda